Shabby Chic Makeover of a Hollywood Regency Trash Can Cover

Shabby chic makeover of a Hollywood Regency trash can cover should have you wondering. I bought this piece of vintage Hollywood Regency junk at a thrift store. It was one of those dry days when I couldn’t find a darn thing, and it’s been sitting in the basement staring at me ever since. I don’t often see vintage Hollywood Regency trash can covers. Personally, I don’t see the point of it. My practical side says, “let’s just have a trash can and be done with it.” Apparently these were the thing in the 50’s, so here we are with this.

And it was GROSS-

And if it looks grody, it was. Rusty and ugly. It was covering someone’s trash can—a large brown Tupperware canister without a lid. It looked so supremely UGLY, I wondered later why I bought it.

How could I give this an attractive makeover?

How about making it into a floor lamp? The cover could hold a light bulb and it would throw interesting patterns through the filigree sides. Nah, I ruled that out. Trash can covers have no top or bottom. It is open at both ends, so I would have to build a support for the light mechanism. Didn’t feel like doing that. Besides, I don’t need another floor lamp. I have about 4 in storage and 3-4 in use. My personal rule is whatever I make over has to be something I can use or resell in my Etsy shop, vintagesouthernpicks.etsy.com, since I don’t have a booth. What next?

Repainting? Obvious. Something to cover rust. White spray paint to the rescue. Etsy didn’t have anything like this for sale already. They were all gold.

A while back a friend was having a garage sale, and I bought all her spray paint cans. Mistake!!!

Duh Tip of the Day: Never buy spray paint cans from a yard sale, especially when you don’t know how old they are.

So four full paint cans later, I finally found one that would spray. All the others quit after very little spraying. Gripes me to throw away practically full cans of paint, but after a youtube video on how to unclog them, and attempting to blow them out with an air compressor, I knew what I had to do.

A coat of fresh white paint made a world of difference.

A vision started coming together. Decorate this baby with flowers! I know. Not exactly the hot farmhouse look, but I’m a shabby chic girl. Since I can’t even draw a stick figure, it would have to be an image transfer. Here’s a word about image transfers….

Image Transfer Method:

(or what the experts say to do)

(I’ve read lots of tutorials on how to do image transfers.) The recommendations:

Use a laser image.

Use Mod Podge Image Transfer Medium

Put a thick 1/16″ layer of transfer medium over the image to the point that you don’t see any of the colored image showing through

Place the image over the item

Wait 24 hours

Wet the image and start rubbing the paper off gently

My Image Transfer Method:

Find an inkjet image

Wait 12 hours before you try to do anything with the image. (If you don’t wait, the colors will bleed.)

Use regular Mod Podge

Put a layer over the image. Don’t worry about a 1/16″ layer

Place the image over the item

Wait 24 hours

Wet the image and start rubbing the paper off gently

But remember the practical side? What do you DO with it??

It’s a vase! Ta-da! A vase cover actually. I just happened to have a tall glass vase that fit nicely inside of it, and it doesn’t show in the open bottom or top. The pretty paper covering the flowers looks nice lining the cover too.

Now I’m liking this! And my hubby loves it! A shabby chic makeover of a Hollywood Regency trash can cover sitting in a thrift store silverplate tray with a thrift store cherub and small thrift store birdcage in the background. So after we’ve enjoyed it for a while, into the Etsy shop it goes! What do y’all think?

PLEASE PIN!

As an experienced online seller for 19 years, I reveal some of my selling secrets. In my Vintage Finds posts, I show what I buy for resale, and what sells per month. Because many items are vintage and need TLC, I show the refurbish process to make them attractive for resale. I love picking, junking, thrifting, and shabby chic style.

Florence, this turned out nicely! Much better in the crisp white. Thank you for sharing and your tips! Also, thank you for the visit and sweet comment at The Dedicated House. It means the world! Feel free to share this at my Make it Pretty party which is still live. Here’s the link so you can check it out: http://www.thededicatedhouse.com/2017/02/make-pretty-monday-week-208.html . Hope to see you at the bash! Have a lovely weekend! Toodles, Kathryn @TheDedicatedHouse

I remember these; I don’t know if they were sets or you could buy the trash can, hairspray can cover, mirrored dresser tray, and tissue box cover individually! i have never done this transfer method and would like to try it. I thought you were decoupaging the picture on, but you are laying the image face down onto the project, right? Pink roses are my favorite and I love how it turned out!

I wish I had more pieces to those sets. I didn’t know there was a hairspray can cover, but I’ve sold many tissue box covers in Hollywood Regency. No, I wasn’t decoupaging it, as you figured out. I was doing an image transfer. It turned out to be fairly simple, but I wasn’t sure if it would work or not. It did turn out well, I thought. Not everyone likes shabby chic, but leaving this as I found it…ugh. It definitely needed a makeover, LOL.